NEW YORK – New York Democratic Governor David Paterson is not planning to resign, his spokeswoman said on Monday, calling blog reports "entirely fabricated."
"This is a new low even by the standards of planet Albany. The circus of the past week -- entirely fabricated out of thin air and innuendo -- is an embarrassment for all who have played a role in fueling it," Marissa Shorenstein said by e-mail.
Paterson, a former legislator and lieutenant governor, became governor in 2008 after former Governor Eliot Spitzer, also a Democrat, resigned amid a prostitution scandal.
Since last week, media blogs, including the Huffington Post, have said the New York Times was on the brink of publishing a story so scandalous that Paterson would have resign.
Paterson trails Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in opinion polls ahead of November's gubernatorial election.
When he became governor, Paterson admitted he had been unfaithful to his wife. On a Friday radio show, he shrugged off a New York Post report about a lunch he had with a woman in New Jersey.
Paterson said the photographer who was seated across from him would not have missed taking a picture of anything improper. "Tell me, what photographer would have missed that shot?" Paterson asked.
Since last week, questions have also been raised about whether Paterson gave undue weight to political ties in choosing a consortium to run video lottery terminals at New York City's Aqueduct horse track in the borough of Queens.
After becoming governor, Paterson appointed Richard Ravitch, a financial expert and former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, to serve as lieutenant governor. The courts have upheld the appointment.
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